A New Dream
by Charles McCoy
Summary: Oneshot- An AU involving the Elf Wars and Allouette and Bass. Written for CORE writing class. Allouette remineces over what has happened to her, a hatred building up for the humans who celebrate the wars end as they smile and share their happiness.


**A/N**: This is something I wrote for CORE Writing at college. Yes, Allouette is misspelled. Bite me.

This will remain a one shot unless I get a hundred reviews asking for more ^_^

A New Dream

Lights burst forth into the sky, and from within the park a roar of cheers rose up as the people of the city celebrated. For five long years, no one around the world had had much reason to cheer, or to celebrate. For five years, a massive war, lead by the infamous and cruel Dr. Weil, had nearly wiped out the world. Using humanities own creations against their will, he had wrought death and chaos the likes of which hadn't been seen since the Third World War.

The entire city had gathered to celebrate the defeat of Weil at the hands of the heroes X and Zero. Now humans could leave their shelters and begin rebuild the world. Happiness was able to return, and for that night in the middle of December, they would forget what lie at the edge of the park, what lay outside their wonderful celebration.

Ruins, rubble, debris, and even corpse's, both human and machine, lay scattered about. Some were old, showing nothing more then the bones, or the rusted remains. But others were new, and the smell of human blood mixed with that of the mechanical fluids that powered their robotic brethren created an odor that could make even those with no sense of smell vomit at.

Amidst all of the death and carnage that lay outside the humans brightly lit bubble, the refurbished park that had been destroyed near the beginning of the war, was a little girl. Covered in dirt, dust, grime and the dried life fluids of her human and mechanical friends, her bright blue eyes gazed outwards. The long pink dress she wore was tattered, and most of its color had faded. Her shoes were nothing more then pieces of metal, stripped from the lifeless body of one of Weil's robots, welded together by a friend now dead.

Her name was Allouette, and as she watched the celebrations, a hole seemed to exist in her heart. There they were, pretending that everything in the world was right again, that there was nothing but happiness and joy to behold. Even though a part of her knew they had every right to celebrate the end of the war, she wondered what was next for herself, and the rest of her kind.

She was one of a few left in the world, a Reploid, or Replica Android. She had never seen a report on how many had been killed in the war, but she knew that there were not many of her kind left. She didn't know how she knew, but she simply did.

She wanted to go join the humans in their merriment, but knew that they would shun her, force her to leave, or maybe even worse: make her as much wreckage as so many of her friends now were. Humanities fear and hatred of Reploid's had now returned in full force after the war's end, and not even the influence of the two legendary hero's, who had led the joint Human/Reploid forces against Dr. Weil, could not steer the rising storm over the horizon for all that was left of their kind.

Her attention soon moved to that of a young human girl, cheering and laughing in joy as she ran over to her mother and father. A sudden jealousy rose up in her, as she watched the scene that should have brought tears of happiness to anyone's face, seeing that even after all that happened that such feelings of happiness and family had survived the war in tact. But Allouette felt only a deep anger. How could the child, let alone her parents, be happy? Outside their party, the ruins of war still lay, untouched and unwanted. They wanted to forget about everything, including those they had created, and those who had fought for and alongside them. How she asked herself as she glared at them, could they feel anything but sadness? How was it that after all they had possibly lost, all the terror's and fear they had likely gone through, could they smile?

This line of thought brought back the vivid memories she possessed, watching Mavericks tearing apart her life in each attack that had been launched upon the city, almost reliving every moment that her family and friends were torn apart, shot to oblivion, and utterly destroyed before her eyes.

Being a Reploid, the only way to forget was to erase the memory files. But she had taken so much emotional as well as physical stress through the time that she wasn't even sure she could. She sniffed, wishing she could cry, shed away all of the pain that she held inside her. But her tear ducts had stopped working shortly after the second attack on the city. And even though she wished that there was someone she could hold onto, to help her release everything into, she had no one left. With the war over, and nearly all the Reploid's destroyed, most were not much better then mavericks, now only looking out for themselves as they knew the humans wouldn't help.

After a moment, she found a small piece of rubble nearby and sat down upon it, continuing to watch the party before her. As she watched, she silently grieved for all those who had died. All of her friends, all of her family, long dead. Somehow, by some stroke of luck or cruelty, she had survived.

As she went deep inside herself, thinking about what her life had been before this. As she did so, she absently noticed through the dark and dreary weather, the eyes of others gazing at the celebration. Most of the eyes were mechanical, those of Reploid's, but a few were dimmer, and within their eyes was hatred of those who celebrated. They were the eyes of the more desolate and lower humans, shunned even by their own kind.

Oh how she missed the times before the war, where everywhere she turned their were smiles and happiness. The city had been one of the best, revered and praised for how strong the bond of comradery was between the humans and Reploid's living there. She had in fact been a gift from a human family to a Reploid couple, who had finally retired from the Maverick Hunters, wanting to avoid war and simply settle down. Like her parents, she was a custom job that the human family, their friends, had paid for.

Her parents had been so surprised when they met her, and she had been so happy to see them, to become their daughter. For three years, they had lived in peace and happiness, enjoying life to the fullest with their new family. Trips to the park, playing games with each other, everything that any child and parent wanted.

But then Weil had ruined everything. Using the Dark Elf, he had taken over many of the Reploid's of the world, turning them into savage Mavericks that served him to the death. He had declared war upon all of the world, and had unleashed hell upon every bit of the world as his armies destroyed anything in his path. It was during the first week that she had watched her parents die, providing cover for their friends as they fled deeper into the city, buying time for the gathering of more defenders to keep the city from falling to Weil's march of destruction.

The human's who had given her to them, had grabbed hold of her arm, trying to keep her from being added to the already long list of those lost. But before they had gotten out of sight, she had witnessed a Maverick carrying a large energy saber, slice through her parents as if they were nothing, looks of total surprise permanently frozen on their faces.

Only a year later, she lost her adopted mother and father, the human family who had saved her. She saw their deaths as well, only barely escaping before more soldiers arrived to defend the city and evacuate the civilians to the safety of the main base, situated at the center of the city.

All of that, and watching the few friends she had tried to make over the course of the war, watching all of them die, deep searing pain and anger coursed through her again as she turned her eyes towards the humans and their happiness, a darkness seeming to envelop her as she questioned their right to be happy, when she was in such pain. Wanting to know how they could celebrate, wishing they could feel her pain.

But once again, the anger drained away, leaving her once again to simply stare at the party, almost gazing off into space. Their was nothing she could do to them, and it would only mean her death if she tried. Once again, the thought crossed her mind, the thought of giving it all up.

_What, after all, do I have to live for? Everything I have ever cared about has been taken from me, and I am no longer who I used to be…would death not be easier then all of this pain, having to wonder when the end will come, so that all I have endured will finally be released?_

She gazes around, wondering if their was anything to hope for, and why she kept going. The thoughts were certainly right after all, she had nothing left. No one she knew and loved was left, save herself. And after all she had seen, after all she had been put through, she wasn't sure if she would be able to go on anyways. Her bodies systems were certainly starting to fail, and eventually they would go completely. It would finally end, then. In a slow, quiet peace……

But before her thoughts could continue, she froze as she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. For a moment, she was afraid to even move, her strong instinct to survive that had pulled her through the war keeping her from giving the being any reason to end it then and there.

Her dark thoughts returned though, and overrode her instinct. What else could whoever was holding her do to her that she had not already suffered? After a moment, blanking her face of emotion, she turned to gaze at the hand, and slowly rose her face to take a look at the strangers face.

The hand was covered in a white glove, and upon his wrist was a black gauntlet, with gold trim. His arm extended from a brown cloak that he was wearing over his body, and she could almost see the outline of his armor that he wore. Atop his head was a black helmet with two large fins rising out from the front and spreading to the sides, their sides possessing the same gold trim that his gauntlet had. Twinkling slightly from the shifting lights of the party, a four pointed crystal power gem glowed lightly in the center of his helmet.

But that was not what caught her interest the most. No, it was his face, and more particularly, his eyes. His mouth was turned into a soft, thin smile as he gazed at her, the two purple streaks running up his face and reaching his eyes. In his eyes however, was a torrent of emotions and memories. Even though their was a soft kindness there, a veil barely hid a burning passion and fiery anger that seemed to swirl around him. But what she saw, was a pain so similar to her that she felt her heart, which she had thought was nearly closed to anyone, want to reach out and ease his pain.

"Hello little one…" He said, his voice deep and calm as he gazed at her, examining her as he shifted his eyes to gaze at his surroundings, ever alert to anything that posed a threat himself. Every time he locked eyes on her, he saw a pain nearly identical to his own, but unlike his, it was being restrained by grief, a feeling that he had thrown off long ago. Finally, he asked her "What is your name, young one?"

She was surprised when he asked her, having already been surprised by the fact that someone seemed to be showing any interest in her. Without even realizing it, she heard herself speaking, surprising herself at her sudden openness.

"Allouette…" He repeated the name to himself a few times as he finally turned his gaze away for a moment, gazing upon the humans and their pathetic party, a dark hatred rising to the for as his eyes flashed red, as his mouth slipped into a deep scowl. He could barely hear several nearby beings, human or Reploid, scoot away from where they were standing, his anger seeming to generate an aura of power around him.

After a moment, he turned to the young child and asked her another question, surprising her once more "Tell me, what do you think of…_them_?" He raised his other hand, pointing an accusing finger towards the celebration before them, the humans there still oblivious to the rest of the city, the rest of the ruins of war around them. He was almost curious to see if they would still be oblivious after a few charged shots tore through them.

Allouette turned her eyes back to the humans, and as she watched them her anger, her pain returned. A part of her wanted each and every one of those smiling humans to feel what she felt. To feel the pain that she held within her. It did not take long for her own eyes to visibly flash, her glare going unnoticed by the humans, but not by the figure next to her.

"I hate them…" She said after a moment, her eyes still gazing upon them. He waited for her to continue, and was not surprised when she did. She was slowly opening herself, and discovering her true thoughts and feelings. "I _hate _them… they can smile, feel joy, feel happiness. They have what I don't have…what I have lost again and again…"

He almost smiled, his anger dropping only slightly as he finished her statement "…they have hope." Her eyes snapped back to him, gazing at him as her mind whirled. Finally, after several moments of watching his own pain rise and fall to the surface, she asked

"How…"

He did not answer, simply returning his eyes to glare once more upon the humans. Finally, he begins speaking again "They call upon us, they created us…they rely on us, and we have only received hatred in return…" His thoughts traveled back to the past, to the conflicts during the Wily Wars, to the times where he had fought for or against the humans during the Maverick Uprisings. Once upon a time, he had respected humans. It was they after all who had created them, had come up with them inside their minds.

Somehow though, the humans had forgotten that, along the flow of time. They had forgotten that, when it came right down to it, all of their misfortune and pain was their own fault. But rather then blame themselves, they always found something else to blame. And ever since the end of the Wily Wars, it had been Robot Masters, and later Reploid's who had been blamed.

Now though, now he had a plan. And he was now certain, that he had found what he needed. No other Reploid he had met in his wandering had the potential to rival him, and he turned to gaze at the child, his eyes locking onto hers.

"Young Allouette…you may think that you have lost everything…but you haven't. You just can't realize it." When she gave him a questioning look, he said, his voice softening "Your anger…your hatred. The grief that you feel holds down your anger and hatred, and with those two feelings, you can choose your own path, make your own name…" She seemed confused as she told her this, but he smirked as he stood tall and straight, gazing into the night sky.

"I offer you a chance, Allouette. Come with me, and I can free you of your grief, and give you the chance to show the world your pain. To show, not just these humans, but all humans who can smile and are filled with joy. I can give you the power…" He dropped his eyes to her own again as he said "I can free you, and help you to become something new, something stronger. Something that will never have to fear again, that will make it so you will never feel the pain you feel now, ever again."

Allouette's eyes widened when he told her this. Her mind whirled at the thought of finally being able to release the pain, to be able to become strong, to never fear again. To never lose what she held onto with her very life. To be,…reborn.

She did not answer immediately, nor did he expect her too. After all she had gone through, she would have had to have been blind and deaf to not realize that life did not simply hand one a chance like this. There were always strings attached, and he knew this just as much as she did. But, he knew what her answer would be. With the only other alternative being a slow death, being weigh down upon by sadness and pain, unable to let free the dark feelings dwelling within her, he knew what answer she would give.

It did not take her long, as she finally steeled herself. Whatever the cost for this deal, for this choice, she would face it. She was tired of being who she was, tired of waiting for death to end it all. Even though she had thought about it, deep down she knew the answer just as well as he did.

"Yes…I will come with you. I want to be free, to be a new person. I am tired of the pain, tired of waiting for everything to end in quiet death." She looked up at him, the eyes that had previously been clouded over with sadness and grief, now showed a powerful determination, her heart and mind free of her former chains as she steeled herself and prepared herself for her new life, no matter what it held.

He smirked, then tiled his head as he laughed, giving the few humans who heard him a murderous glare as he smiled sadistically at them. Their eyes quickly widened in fear and they quickly went back to their fantasy world, ignoring both himself and herself.

He finally turned, motioning for her to follow him as he began making his way through the rubble, blasting the larger pieces that obstructed their path to rubble as they went. He glanced at Allouette as he said "It will be difficult Allouette, but you will not regret the choice you have made. It is one I made long ago and I have not regretted it once."

She nodded as she walked, and after a moment she finally asked what she had been wanting to know since she had first locked names with his. Her voice free of any nervousness, she asked "You never told me your name…"

Smirking, he chuckled as he indulged her, his mind wondering as he told her. "My name is Bass, but you can call me Forte." She simply nodded, murmuring to herself as she repeated the name to herself.

As they made their way out of the city, Bass took a moment to think about the irony of what the humans had done. Creating Reploid's, forcing Reploid's to fight their wars for them. And now, a Reploid born of war, of pain and loss, would someday bring about humanities end.

The night silence was broken by his dark laughter, as he thought out his dark intentions, and a young girl left her past, the clinking of her chains of grief and pain resounding in her mind as she left her old life behind.


End file.
